Hope in Hell
by Jauntues Tigerwolf
Summary: Eight friends must band together in order to survive the walker apocolypse. However, staying banded is easier said than done. Will they die or will they become hope, in a living hell?
1. Chapter 1- Get Out Alive

**Disclaimer: We do not own the Walking Dead.**

**Hey guys this is another collaboration fanfic, with my friends BobaAddict, , ChrilyxAndSocks27, Rigoudon3, , and Stephanie. We recently got into making plans for the zombie apocalypse, as well as The Walking Dead, and we decided to do another story together. You may know us from our collab. fanfic on Naruto.**

**Chrily- Excluding me.**

**Stephanie- Yeah, excluding Chrily.**

**Aquarius- Yes, Chrily wasn't there for that.**

**Jauntues: BUT anyway, on with the story.**

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_Chapter 1: Get Out Alive_

We have been stuck here for five days. For five days we have confined ourselves in one of the English classrooms of my high school. I was fortunate enough to have met up with my siblings and friends before we shut ourselves in this room. But I was unfortunate enough to see what happens to those who couldn't shut themselves up fast enough. _They _came and ate them. The blood, bodies, and guts of teachers and students alike stain the grounds I know so well. For five days, we had been living on whatever we had packed for lunch and two school emergency kits when this all started. Between eight people, four small, packed lunches and two emergency kits isn't much. There had been others in the room with us, they each formed their own group with their own friends and ventured outside. They were heard two minutes later, shrieking with pain and fear. After two groups went out with the same results, we were discouraged and did not want to venture outside.

My group is not the group you would bet on to survive the zombie apocalypse, but so far we are doing well. Our group is compromised of eight people. My friends; April, Stephanie, Annabel, Rita, and Edelynn; my younger siblings Jake and Elizabeth; and myself. My name is Janet. All my friends and I are juniors in high school and my siblings go to the middle school that is literally a block away from my school.

We all have brown eyes, except for my sister who has hazel eyes. My siblings and I all have dark brown hair, but my friends have black hair. We are all around 5'4, 5'5; except for my sister who is 5'3.

April is very resourceful and has excellent ideas on different building projects. Her hair is an inch past her shoulder. As of right now she is wearing a light green long-sleeve and faded blue jeans.

Stephanie is a great moral booster. Her jokes and humorous sarcasm know no bounds, but she is a good friend. She has her hair about as long as April's. She's wearing a light grey tank-top and jeans.

Annabel is always thinking things through in the most logical way possible. She is also pretty good at reading peoples faces. Her hair is layered and an inch above her shoulder. She's wearing a long sleeved shirt with a cat on the front and black jeans.

Rita's hair used to go two inches past her shoulder. When we barricaded ourselves in the classroom though, she had us cut it. She said she'd rather have her hair cut by friends than have it grabbed and yanked on by a walker. So it's now two inches above the shoulder. She wears a hat to cover up some of the cuts that were way to high. But, she is always sensible and comforting.

Edelynn's hair is one inch below her cheeks. She is smart and she doesn't fuss about having to share anything. She's like me though, a lover of good books and an even greater adventure. She is also a huge, raving chocolate monster.

My younger brother, in my opinion, is my best partner. We know how to have each other's backs. He and I make the best team out of everyone. His hair is cut short and neat.

My little sister, however, is almost the opposite of my brother and I. Being the youngest out of all of us, she isn't used to having to do much and only doing the the lesser of the chores. She refused to have her hair cut even though it went almost two inches past her shoulder. I couldn't talk sense into her, so we eventually just had to cut it when she was sleeping. Of course when she woke up she was furious, but I didn't care. I'd rather have my sister be upset than dead.

I am the group's leader, well at least that what everyone else wants. I don't mind, but it is kind of nerve racking making up plans to get out of here. If someone dies, it is on my shoulders. I wear my hair short and a bit messy, it's more convenient to beat the heat, and now walkers.

The plan was to just stay in the classroom until we had to move. That plan, however, is going to change today. My house isn't far from the school and out of all of our houses, mine seems to have the most available weaponry. We went over the plans to get my my house many times and we have all prepared the best we could, utilizing anything that could be used as a weapon. The teacher's scissors were the best we could get in the class though. We had split it in half, using them as shivs. We all emptied out our backpacks; folders and text books would only slow us down. We did keep our pens and pencils and a notebook and/or a sketch book each. It's incredible how a few friends, siblings, and the comfort of writing and drawing can help keep you sane. The best weapon we have ,though, is one metal baseball bat that April had managed to grab before shutting herself in this room with us. So, in that case the only people in the group that are adequately armed are: April, my brother, and myself. The rest of our group only have children's scissors that we found in the teachers cupboard. We are ready to put my plan into action.

...

"Janet are you ready?" My brother asked me.

I put the journal and pencil in my backpack. "Yeah just documenting. You got my back on this?"

"You know it."

I slung my backpack over my shoulder and put my hand on the door and slowly pushed it out. I gripped my makeshift shiv tighter and slowly poked my head out of the doorway. Other than the corpses on the floor, the grounds looked empty. I opened the door wider and wider. My brother and the others filed out of the classroom. I carefully closed the door and joined my brother at the front of the group.

"April, take the rear and watch out behind us. We don't want to get jumped from behind."

April nodded and took her position. We all had our eyes peeled. We jogged to the entrance of our school, passing many grotesque bodies so badly maimed they could not come back. Still nothing had come out and attacked us. Something felt wrong. It was never this quiet or lonely. There were always one or two walkers out. I'm sure we all felt the feeling, but pressed on. We silently continued past the schools parking lot. There was no use trying to drive any of the remaining cars. We didn't have the keys to any of them and none of us knew how to hot-wire a car. We continued down the street. Things from here were going to get complicated. Several walkers were scattered around the street. Some were alone and some were in small groups. With our less-than-par weaponry, this was going to be a challenge.

"April." I whispered. "Can I borrow your bat for this?"

"Yeah take it."

I took the bat and motioned my brother next to me.

"Okay, we gotta' take 'em out carefully. We alert any of them we are going to have hell."

My brother nodded. "You ready for this part of the plan?"

"Well, no duh, I only planned this to get us out of this school." I whispered jokingly. "You guys move up on my signal." I told the others.

Our signal was two flashes of hand held mirror we had split in half. We had made up signals during our days in the classroom.

"Okay, you all ready?"

Seven heads nodded an affirmative.

"Okay, Jake, let's go."

My brother and I crouched and swiftly made our way to some abandon cars. I could hear a walker moaning and growling to itself. I looked under the car. The walker's feet were pointing away from the car, it wan't looking at us. I motioned for my brother to go ahead and look, he nodded and copied my action.

Once he finished he looked up at me and held up one finger and pointed at the walker we could hear behind the car. The he held up another and pointed near the back tire. He motioned with his hand several different ways. I understood the signs. Most of them were the same signs we used when we played paintball. He was basically saying that there was a walker in front of me. I could take that one out. There was a walker near the tire, leaning against it. He could take that one out.

We both got into position and silently counted to three. Simultaneously, we both rounded on the two walkers. I bashed my target's head inward, sending blood and skull fragments everywhere. It's body fell limply to the floor with a thud. I could hear my brothers shiv squelch as it stabbed the other walker in the head. I looked over. My brother's hands were all bloody and the walker was dead. We moved up to the next hiding spot we could find and signaled to the others.

This went on for a good hour and a half. When we were done, I assumed we had killed at least fifteen walkers. Some we had more trouble with than others and some we needed April to back us up. We took a little longer explaining things to her, she had never played paintball and never really learned any signs. But we eventually made it to my house.

I took out my key and unlocked the door. I pushed the door inward and our house alarm blared! I quickly shut it off and hurried everyone inside. I shut the door and readied the bat. We waited, and waited, and waited. Nothing. I relaxed and handed the bat back to April, who in turn handed me back my shiv.

Stephanie looked around. "Nice house."

"Thanks." I answered.

"I'm actually surprised the house didn't get raided." My sister said.

"Looks like the doors are locked and the windows look sealed, maybe Mom made it home!" I cried. I had been so worried. We had all tried to call our parents, none of us had reached them. The lines had all been busy.

"I hope so, it's getting a little scary out here without an adult around." My sister said.

I checked upstairs and in all the rooms, nobody was in there. I did grab the thick walking stick my mom kept in her room. It was always there just in case someone came into the house.

I came back down, everyone was in the kitchen. All the shivs were on the counter and everyone was examining the kitchen knives.

"Hey, Janet. Can we take these?" April asked me.

"Sure, there aren't going to be of much use otherwise." I answered. "Oh here, hand me that long one. I can make a spear out of that. I need duct tape though and that's in the garage."

"All right let's go. Maybe mom holed up in the garage! I didn't see her in the house." My sister exclaimed.

I nodded and we all went to the garage. Before I opened the door something caught my eye. There was blood on the floor, close to the door.

My breath hitched in my throat. I prayed that my mom was okay, but knew that my praying was probably in vain.

"Hey Jan. what's the hold up?" My brother asked.

"Annabel, take my sister and wait in the kitchen."

"Wh-" Annabel looked at the floor and caught sight of the blood. "Oh...yeah sure."

She pulled my sister away, muttering something about sharpening the knives.

"You sure you wanna open that?" Edelynn asked.

I nodded and opened the door. The smell of stale blood and rotting flesh hit us. I turned on the dim garage light and looked around. My mom's car was here, but I didn't see her. I walked around the car and saw a bloody mass on the floor. I knelt down and poked at it. There was nothing to indicate that this was my mom. I stood up and looked around some more.

In the darkness, something moved. I saw long hair and a hand. "Mom?" I called hesitantly.

The figure stopped and slowly edged forward from the shadows.

"Mom? Is that you?"

The figure came into the light.

"Oh Mom it is you." I said, relieved. "I was getting worried that you had...Mom?"

My mom came fully into the light, a large bit mark prominent on her arm.

"No...no,no,no. Mom. Mom. How...when..."

My mother didn't respond. She just growled and reached out for me.

"Mom. Don't. Stop. Mom stop!"

My mom didn't answer. My brother and my friends were frozen.

My mom groaned and raced at me. I pushed her away. She staggered, but recuperated and rushed at me again. I pushed her away again. Tears running down my face and my breathing was ragged.

"Mommy stop." I pleaded, my voice cracking. "Mommy, please stop."

My mother didn't stop. She rushed me ands knocked me to the floor. I continued pleading even though I knew it was pointless. I tried to stop pleading, but my mouth kept moving, some part of me just didn't want to accept that my mom was now a flesh eating monster. My mom was suddenly pushed off of me and my brother was standing over me.

My brother was helping me up when suddenly he was tackled by my mom. Her teeth almost closed over his neck when her head exploded. It took me a second to realize that I had instinctively smashed my mother's head in to save my brother. I collapsed to my knees, numb. My brother sat up and stared at the body.

"We can't let Liz see." I said.

My brother nodded and ran to one of the cupboards in the garage. He pulled out the duct tape and ran back inside. Edelynn walked to my side, she had found a shovel. She scooped up the mutated body, I opened the garage door and dragged my mom's body outside. I hid my mother's body in a bush and Edelynn dumped the mutilated body on the lawn.

Edelynn walked over and hugged me. I hugged her back. She released me. "Are you going to be okay?"

I nodded. I wiped my tears away and we walked back toward the house. I closed the garage door, we both grabbed the bow cases, and we headed inside the house. I put the cases on the table and I headed upstairs to the safe in the back room. I opened it and grabbed the handguns and the one rifle we had. I grabbed the ammo boxes and headed down stairs. By then April, Annabel, Stephanie, Jake, Edelynn, Rita, and Elizabeth had made spears out of most of the kitchen knives.

We didn't mentioned what happened to my mom or what I had done. We just divided the weapons. My brother and I took our bows and a pistol each. My brother had a compound bow, but I had a recurve bow. Either way we knew how to shoot them. My sister took the rifle. The recoil was okay for her, she had shot the gun before. My brother and I had to teach the others the rules and how to shoot, since they had never shot a gun before. We left the guns in the kitchen and we sat in the family room. I had tried to turn the heat on, but the electricity wasn't working. We eventually decided to go out into my backyard and gather dried sticks and leaves. We put them into the fire place and lit it. The fire burned with hardly any smoke and we were all warm. A can of baby corn sat over the fire and we used one of the pots to make some mash potatoes.

That night, dinner was nice. We all ate our fill and filled our backpacks with supplies. Stephanie's and April's backpacks were filled with clothes. We were all about the same height and size so we are able to share clothes. We just needed the extra bag so my brother and sister could take their clothes with them. Annabel's backpack was filled with first aid supplies. My mom had red packs stored in the "first aid cupboard" so we had no problem finding gauze, bandaids and medications. Rita's backpack was filled with canned food and other snacks. I filled my pack was filled with bottles of water. My brother carried a small pot and a pan. We had tied them together to prevent them from clanking together and making noise. My sister used her backpack to gather writing supplies and notebooks as well as paper. She also grabbed three Thomas Road Guides. Edelynn's pack had our electronics in it. April, Stephanie, and Annabel, carried their iPhones, but Edelynn carried the chargers and my brother's and my iPads. We kept all this stuff in the trunk of the van, trying to make it all fit. It fit, but it was going to be a squeeze for sitting space. We also had managed to squeeze in two full gas cans we use to use for the lawn mower and a clear tube we could use to syphon gas.

"Alright guys! We need to shower." Stephanie announced.

"The water probably won't work. The electricity doesn't work." I said.

"Why wouldn't the water work?" Stephanie asked. " I mean, the electricity doesn't work because something probably happened to the wires somewhere else."

"Well...maybe whoever works the water turned it off?" I shrugged.

Stephanie stared at me like I was retarded. "Oh yeah! 'Cause if I was the water control person and I'm going to die. I'm totally going to be a douche bag and shut off the water and be all like 'Nope! If I die, nobody gets water. 'Cause I'm the fucking sea deity!"

We all couldn't help laughing and following Stephanie upstairs to see if the water _would_ turn on. Stephanie threw the shower curtain open and we all filed into the bathroom. Stephanie turned the knob. A drop of water came out and that was it.

Stephanie paused for a long moment. "...It must be clogged."

We all started laughing and grabbed some of the extra water bottles and used them to shower. It took a lot of bottles, but we had lot's of water in our house. We all took at least five bottles. Except for my brother who only took three. We grabbed some sleeping bags from the garage, but since there were only four, we had to go upstairs and grab some blankets and drag them downstairs and make semi-comfortable beds. We arranged ourselves in a circle, weapons close by in case we needed them, and we drifted off to sleep.

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**Jauntues- Well guys here is the first chapter.**

**Chrily- I hope you all liked it.**

**Stephanie- But seriously why the hell doesn't anything work? I mean was everyone who controlled water, electricity, and all that other shit a douche bag? I mean who turns off the damn water in the zombie apocalypse? You wouldn't have time!**

**Jauntues- That is one of the mysteries of the apocalypse, my friend. Well anyway, hope you all enjoyed. Reviews would make Aqua and the rest of us happy. :)**


	2. Chapter 2- Even Better

**Disclaimer- We do not own the Walking Dead.**

**Jauntues- Hey, we're back with another chapter.**

** - Thanks to all that read!**

**Rigoudon- So without any further ado... On with the story!**

**Janet's POV**

We all woke up, it was about six o'clock according to Liz's watch. We ate some mandarin oranges and some apples we had raided from the fridge. We brushed our teeth with the extra tooth brushes we had found in the storage cupboard in my mom's room. After that, we all packed up the sleeping bags, matches, and blankets, then stuffed them into the car. We had to take out three of the backpacks, they had to be held. Rita, April, and Edelynn volunteered to hold them on their laps. We inspected the house one last time, my sister, brother, and I grabbed small items here and there as a keepsake. I grabbed the watch my mom used to wear and strapped it to my wrist and the blue bandana that I used during paintball. It still had some paint stains, but it was only slightly visible and still useable.

I was walking back to the garage when I bumped into Elizabeth.

"Jake told me what happen with mom." She said. "Are you okay?"

"I thought I told him not to." But, I hugged her. "I should be asking you that."

"I'm okay. I know that it wasn't mommy any more. Mom went to heaven already."

I nodded absent-mindedly.

I released her. "So what are you taking?"

My little sister held up her pink bandana and took out her necklace with a pendent that looked like an E.

"I got yours too." She said.

She took out another necklace from her pocket. It was my J pendent on a small-linked-chain necklace. The original string had broken, so I replaced it with the chain. I noticed that my sister had also taken my wolf bracelet charm and my tiger bracelet charm and modified them so that they would fit on the chain. I smiled at her thoughtfulness.

"Thanks."

My sister smiled and picked up a duffle bag from the floor.

"What's that for?"

My sister smiled wider, "I'm gonna pack your books. You can't wander around without your library!"

I laughed and I let her lead me to the shelves where I kept all my books. Edelynn came in and her eyes bugged out of her head.

"I knew I would love your library, but I didn't know you had this many books!" She chattered excitedly. She was, like me, a book worm.

"Well, we can't take them all. When you choose a book put it in the bag. If you get a book that belongs in a series, do try to pack the whole series. I would hate to be reading a series only to find out I don't get to find out how it ends." I said.

We started packing books. The _Harry Potter_ series was the first to be packed, then the _Fablehaven _series, then the _Inkheart _series, then books like; _White Fang, Charlotte's Web, The BFG, The Sight _and the second book:_ Fell. _Then_ Dragon Slippers, The Last Dragon, The Golden Goblet, The Hobbit, The Little House on the Prairie_ series,and as many other books as we could fit.

"Alright, now to shove all of this into the car." I said. After much arranging and rearranging, it all fit.

"Okay everyone, time to go!" I said. Everyone picked up their weapons and carefully placed them close by.

"Now where to?" I asked.

"We can go to my house." Annabel said. "My house has more medical supplies, since my mom is a nurse, she sometimes brings gauze and other medications home on accident."

"Wouldn't she have to return that stuff?" Rita asked.

"No, she told me that once the stuff leaves the hospital then it isn't sterile anymore. She even has to wash her apron a different way just to wear it to the hospital. They are all about sterilizing germs there."

"Well, it makes sense." I said. "Can you give me directions?"

"Yeah, no problem."

The trip didn't take very long. It felt like such a luxury to have a car verses walking everywhere. Surprisingly there weren't many cars on the streets. The freeway was a different story. It was jammed packed with abandon cars, trucks, big-rigs, and vans. It took fifteen minutes to get to Annabel's house. I parked in the driveway and we all got out. Annabel was carrying the "medicine bag". There was a broken window, but there were boards behind it. I took out my pistol and held it to my side, my finger next to the trigger, but not on it. I didn't want to accidentally pull the trigger; even the smartest people can do this. When someone has an itchy trigger finger, stuff goes wrong.

Annabel took the key from around her neck and stuck it in the key hole. She unlocked the door, turned the knob, and pushed the door in. I rushed to her side and held the gun up. Nothing. No surprised, scared raiders in the house, no walkers shambling toward the door. Nothing.

I lowered the pistol and stepped inside. Everyone followed me in. My brother walked to my side and we scanned the house. Checking each room and yelling "All clear!" when there were no signs of life. I was checking a bedroom when my sister screamed. It sounded like it was coming from the smaller bedroom down the hall.

"Liz!" I yelled.

I rushed to the room where I heard my sister. I rounded the corner, grabbed my sister's arm, pretty much threw her behind me, and held the pistol out in front of me. My gun was pointed at a small little girl. She was huddled in a corner, her knees drawn to her chest. She was shaking with fear and tears slid down her dirty cheeks. She had blonde hair and green eyes; she didn't look any older than eight. I lowered my gun.

"Jesus Liz. Are you trying to give us a heart attack?! I thought it was a walker!"

Jake and the others flew into the room. My brother was holding his pistol in front of him.

"False alarm, Jake. It's a little girl."

Jake lowered his gun, the others relaxing as well. They pointed their spears downward. They had yet to touch their guns. I didn't mind though. I'd rather them be scared, not knowing how to handle a gun, and not using it; then being scared, not knowing how to handle a gun, and using it anyways.

I knelt down to my knees. "Are you okay? Where are your parents?"

I tried getting a little closer, but she pushed herself against the wall, as if trying to melt into it.

I put down my pistol. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. Come on...come on out."

I know that I probably sounded like I was talking to a puppy, but the girl seemed to calm down.

"Look, we're not going to hurt you. Come on out."

The little girl scooted away from the wall. "Who are you?" She croaked. She sounded hoarse.

"I'm Janet. That boy is my brother, Jake, and that girl is my sister, Elizabeth." I said calmly.

"I'm Rita."

"I'm Edelynn."

"I'm April."

"I'm Stephanie."

"And I'm Annabel."

The girl slowly stood up. "I'm...I'm Lily."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Lily. Where are your parents?" I asked.

"Gone." Lily replied with a shudder. "They didn't come back. They left to go get supplies and they haven't come back for two days. I think their...gone."

I nodded, my eyes glazing over with memories of what happen with my mom.

"Can...can I come with you? You seem nice. The other people I've heard come through here sounded mean. They yelled and shot a lot. You're not walkers either."

"I'm not sure." Stephanie said. "We didn't plan on having another person and statistically we don-"

"Of course you can Lily." Rita said, cutting Stephanie off. "We just need another van and walkie-talkies.

"I know where those are." Annabel said.

"How?" Lily asked.

"This is my house. I live...well... lived here." Annabel explained.

Lilly nodded, completely coming out from her corner. She ran over to Rita and gave her a hug. Rita froze, but patted her back. Rita was always the caring one; even in the end of the world she would accept a hug from a complete stranger. Lily released her and then stood awkwardly in the center of all of us.

"Well, um, let's go get the supplies then hole up." Annabel said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah." I said. Lily let me take her hand and we lead her to the kitchen. I gave her a bottle of water and an orange which she started eating ravenously.

"When was the last time you ate?" I laughed. "I've never seen anyone eat so fast."

Lily smiled shyly and slowed her eating down a little. After ten minutes Annabel came around the corner.

"Okay everyone, I've got everything we need. I even got some extra food and more clothes. We are going to have to go to the store or something to get clothes for Lily though."

I nodded. "We can do that. Do you know the closest clothing store?"

"Yeah, I can tell you where to go. We should only take two other people. We can leave the others here to protect the house." Annabel suggested.

"I'll stay here and protect the house. Janet can go with you guys, just so that there is at least one person who knows how to use a gun in both groups." Jake said.

I nodded at his plan. "April, Rita, you guys want to come?"

"Sure." Rita said. April nodded and walked to my side. Annabel, April, and I unloaded some of the supplies from the van. We didn't want to leave and possibly not come back, leaving the others with nothing. We unloaded half the supplies from the van and we decided that we had unloaded enough. We emptied two backpacks and put them in the trunk. We were just about to get in the van when something tapped my arm. It was Lily.

"Can I come with you?" She asked.

I shook my head. "No, I don't know how dangerous it will be. I don't want to lose you just after I met you."

"But if you are going to get clothes I think I should come so you know my size." She said, not disrespectfully.

"She does have a point Jan." April said.

"Alright you can come, but stay close to us." I told Lily.

Lily nodded and hopped into the car between April and Rita. Annabel was sitting in the passenger seat so she could give me directions. The others waved good-bye as we drove off, but quickly scurried back into the house soon after.

We drove at least twenty miles; Annabel giving me directions. The drive was relatively silent, other than the occasional question for or from Lily or Annabel saying "Turn left up ahead." or "Turn right at that corner." or "Keep going straight."

Rita was staring out the window and April was playing slide with Lily. Annabel also kept me updated whether or not she could see any walkers. So far we hadn't seen any, but that didn't mean they weren't out there.

We finally arrived at an outdoor mall. I pulled the car up to the edge of the curb.

"The curb is red." Rita observed.

"Yeah...is that important?" I asked.

"You're not supposed to park at a red curb." Rita said.

I mentally face-palmed, "Rita, this is an apocalypse. I don't think anyone is going to care if I parked here. There aren't even any people here to see, much less care."

"Oh yeah, sorry. That drive and the mall made everything seem normal for once." Rita sighed.

I turned the engine off, took out the key out of the ignition, and got out of the car. I gave one of the empty backpacks to April and took another for myself. I also took out my bow and quiver. I strapped the quiver to my side and made sure my pistol was securely in its holster strapped to my leg. Yep, everything seemed to be in order. I grabbed a dozen arrows and walked over to the others.

"You do know where the clothing stores are, right?" I asked Annabel.

She nodded and started to lead the way. I locked the car. It honked once, but the silence made the honk seem louder. I pulled on my arm guard and finger-tab and nocked an arrow on my bow. Not drawing it, but keeping it in place.

"Do you need all of those?" Annabel asked me, motioning to the arm guard and finger-tab.

"Yeah, the arm guard makes sure that if I release the bow string wrong it won't hit me in the arm and give me a really bad bruise. The finger tab protects my fingers from getting sore or cut it when I am drawing the string." I explained.

Annabel and Rita nodded at my explanation. We started walking into the mall. It was very quiet and we had our eyes peeled for walkers.

"I saw your brother's bow. It looked a lot different from yours. It looked way more mechanical. He didn't wear a finger tab either. He had this clip that was attached to his wrist." Annabel said.

I nodded, "It's because his is a compound bow. It has pulleys on the end. When he draws the bow he is pulling whatever poundage he has it on, but once he gets to a certain length, he is only holding about maybe half of what he pulled. For my bow, I am holding the poundage I am pulling. His bow is what hunters normally use."

Annabel nodded in understanding and we continued on in silence. I noticed that Rita, April, and Annabel all kept their hands on their makeshift spears. I was keeping my and on my arrow. I heard a faint moan. I turned around, but saw nothing. I looked at the others. "Did you guys hear that?"

They shook their heads, but Lily nodded.

"It sounded like a walker." She whispered. She scooted closer to my side.

I heard the moan again, this time a little louder.

I scanned the stores, and saw what was moaning. It was a cashier that had turned. He was stumbling toward us. I drew my bow, taking a deep breath and aiming. I focused on the walker's rotting skull and fired. The arrow flew straight and it went through the walker's nose. It was hit, but not dead...well 'dead dead'.

I drew another arrow and pulled the string back. I focused again and fired. This arrow hit the walker in the forehead. It dropped like a sack of potatoes and didn't even twitch. We approached the body. April even prodded the walker with the butt of her spear. It lay still and did nothing. April lifted her spear away, but suddenly jabbed the knife through the walker's skull. Seeming satisfied she pulled the spear out of its' head.

"Just making sure." She said.

I knelt down and pulled out my arrows, wiping the blood and brain matter on its shirt before putting them back in my quiver.

We continued onward, following Annabel left, right, and then left again, until we got to an Aeropostale.

"Will this do?" Annabel asked me.

"Yeah, this will do." I answered.

We entered the store. One look at the interior and you could see that this place had been raided. Clothes were strewn about all over the floor. The racks they had hung on were tipped over on their sides.

"Stay close to me." I told Lily.

April and Annabel went to the left of the store while Rita, Lily and I went to the right. It was a little hard to find the right clothes, after all they were scattered on the floor. Some even had blood stains on them. Every now and then, though, I would find something that fit her and I would put it in my backpack. We managed to get three shirts and two pants for her. We also found three pairs of socks and a pair of mittens. We met back up with April, Annie, and Rita at the cashier tables. We opened a couple of drawers and found what we were looking for, the key to get the thick tags off of the clothes. It took us some time to do so, but we got it done. Once we were finished we put the clothes in April's backpack.

"Okay, now what do you want to do?" Annabel asked.

I thought for a moment. "We could raid some of the food stores. I know they have them in malls. You know like a See's Candy or something."

Annabel's face lit up. "I know something better."

She took off running out of the store. We ran outside and did our best to keep up with her. Once she stopped, I have to admit, I was disappointed.

"Annabel, this is a discount store, a junk store. I think the only things we're going to get out of this place are a couple of fake guns."

"Look I know it looks bad, but, I remember looking inside of here sometimes. Oh, I can't ruin the surprise, come on. She ran into the store. Then she came running out two walkers on her tail.

"Damn it." I muttered. I quickly slid an arrow into my bow and fired. It hit the walker in the forehead. Rita and April both teamed up and both of them used their spears and plunged them into the second walkers head.

"Jesus Annabel, do you want to die?" I admonished.

"Sorry." She replied. "Can I show you what I wanted you to see before the two walkers?"

I sighed, nodded, and followed her inside. The place didn't look looted. At most it just looked a little disorganized. The only thing that looked in bad shape was the candy stand that was next to the cashier table.

"No, this way!" Annabel said. She was behind some shawls draped over the door frame. I motioned to the others to follow her. We parted the drapes and I smiled in delight. In glass cases and on small pegs on the wall, were daggers, swords, and katanas of various sizes.

"Are...these...real?" I hesitated to ask.

Annabel nodded. "Yeah, I remember coming here a couple of times, just to look at them, pretty neat right? I even know where they keep the sharpeners, I asked the people who worked here one time. Not straight out, of course, but I saw them open a drawer and take out one of the sharpeners"

"Yeah, these are awesome!" Rita exclaimed. She ran up to the glass case and looked at the daggers and what looked to be machetes.

April took her spear and smashed the glass. "Grab whatever you can. One for us and one for the others back at Annabel's house." She said. "Oh and grab the sharpeners as well."

"Are we lucky or what guys. If you think about it this is just too lucky." I said. "We can't hope for everything to go this smoothly."

"Even if it is just luck, just grab the swords. If there're consequences that come with this then we can deal with them later." Rita said.

I nodded and looked at the different swords. There were many daggers and all of them had a very interesting design. One had a green, glassy looking hilt and a curved blade. Another had a steel hilt in the shape of a roaring Chinese dragon. The blade on the dagger was curved as well. I looked at the other shelves and found a dagger that suited me. It was of a simple design. The hilt was just plain steel with a single tribal wolf design etched into it. The blade was straight and was about five inches long. It was an inch and a half wide at the bottom and it transitioned to a point beautifully. It was the perfect weight for me. I'd say it didn't weigh more than a pound. All in all it looked like a medieval dagger.

I took it and grabbed its sheath that lay beside it and tucked it into my backpack. I looked at the swords and quickly decided I wanted a katana. For one it was way lighter than the other swords that were on display and I had an option, I could grab either a one-handed sword or a two-handed sword. I picked up a regular medieval looking sword and swung it a couple of times. I set it down and did the same with a two-handed katana. I repeated this process several times before deciding that the two-handed katana was better since I had more control of the swings and the power in them. The sheath was plain black with a small, silver, pouncing tiger design in the center. It had a strap on it so I could put it on my back. Of course with my bow, quiver, backpack, and new dagger, I was going to have a tough time deciding what I was going to carry and where I could wear it.

"I'm gonna need a belt." I muttered to myself. I put the katana in my backpack along with some other daggers and katanas I had grabbed for the others at the house. I felt a small tap on my back, I turned and it was Lily.

"Can I have this one?" She asked, holding out a pocket knife.

I was a bit confused. "That one?"

Lily nodded. I rubbed the back of my head. "You sure you don't want something...bigger?"

Lilly thought a moment. "I like it. It has a knife and it looks sharp enough to kill a walker."

I held out my hand to take it. "May I?"

Lily handed me the knife. I flicked it out. It looked good; it was long enough to stab a walker in the brain. It pretty much met all requirements of a good knife; after all there isn't much to it.

"Do you know how to use one? How to be responsible with it?" I asked her seriously.

"Yes, I can be responsible with it." She replied.

I sighed. "Okay, you can keep it. You're going to have to show me that you know how to use this. We can practice together, I don't want-"

"Hey Janet! We're going to be able to practice real soon!" Rita shouted.

I ran over to where she stood. She was looking outside the store window. Annabel and April were by her side. I peeked outside and wished I had checked it sooner.

Outside there was a large herd of walkers, shuffling and stumbling around, headed right toward the store.

"We need to get out of here now." April said.

I looked over to Annabel. "Is there a way to the car from here where we don't have to go through _that_?"

"Yeah, come on." She ran to the back of the store. She stopped at a door. "It might get a little loud."

"What are you-" WEE-WOO WEE-WOO WEE-WOO

"Yep, emergency door alarm. Come on!" She shouted.

We all headed out the door, with me at the rear. The alarm was still sounding and the walker group was closing in on the building. We broke into a run and hoped none of the walkers saw us.

"All right we should be able to get to the parking lot this way." Said Annabel, more to herself than to us.

We didn't stop running until we finally got to the car. I unlocked the car and threw my bow into the car. I took off my arm guard and finger tab and threw them into the car as well. I was just about to put the backpack full of katanas in, when suddenly; something grabbed my ankle and pulled me down.

**Jauntues- Da-Da-Daaa!**

**Aquarius- Well, this was an eventful chapter.**

**Stephanie- Yeah, only I wasn't in it!**

**Jauntues- Yeah you were. **

**Stephanie- Not that much though. How is the story going to go on without my humor and sarcasm?**

**Boba- It will last. Besides the next chapter... Never-mind I don't want to give spoilers. **

**Rigoudon- Well, until Chapter 3 then. **

**Chrily- Until Chapter 3 readers, see ya!**

**Jauntues- Oh, btw, I will be trying to upload a chapter every Friday. So make sure to review and follow to make sure you don't miss out!**


	3. Chapter 3- A Raiding We Will Go

**Disclaimer- I do not own The Walking Dead**

**Edelynn's POV**

Janet, Annabel, Rita, April, and the newest group member, Lily, drove off. We had all waved good-bye and then hurried back into Annabel's house. There were only four of us to protect the house, but we didn't expect anyone to come. We searched the house for anything useful. We found more food, two backpacks, some flashlights, first aid supplies, and even some batteries and chargers. We searched the house for anything else, but decided that there was really nothing more.

"So now what?" Stephanie asked.

I shrugged and looked outside. "It doesn't look like anyone is coming. If anyone saw the car they would have come after us by now. We could go raid some of the neighborhood houses. We could use more food. The group is getting bigger, and it wouldn't hurt to nab some extra food."

Liz nodded and looked to me. "We could get another car too. We need another."

"So it's settled then, a raiding we will go." Stephanie said.

Liz and Jake grabbed their bows and quivers. Then I made sure that my spear was in good shape, it was. The others made sure they had all their gear. We grabbed the two backpacks, put the flash lights in them, and went outside. We went out the back way, making sure to lock the front door from the inside.

I had grabbed a black shirt from one of the rooms and I had cut off the sleeves. I made them into strips of cloth. Once we hopped the fence into another person's backyard, I tied a strip -as best I could- to the top of the fence.

"Now we can find our way back." I said.

I looked around the yard we were in. It wasn't small, but it wasn't big either. My stomach suddenly tightened and I felt uneasy. I looked at the windows of the house. Nothing. 'Wait, was that...in the window?' I shook my head and looked again. No, it was my eyes playing tricks. 'Still, listen to your gut Edelynn.'

Stephanie was going for the sliding glass door.

"Not this house." I said.

"What? Why not?" Stephanie asked.

"I thought I saw something in the window and my gut is saying that we shouldn't"

"So...gut feeling?" Stephanie said.

"Look, I know it sounds lame, but don't go in there. There is something...off about it."

"Steph, we're not desperate yet, I think we could go with her on this." Jake supported.

Stephanie nodded and started to walk back.

CRASH!

The glass door behind her had broken and a walker stumbled on the shards.

"Told you!" I yelled. Jake whipped out his pistol and shot the walker once in the head. More moans and gasps came from behind another fence. I turned to the fence to my right. I could see fingers trying to haul their owners over.

"We're going in the house after all." Stephanie said. I didn't argue. We all ran through the ruined glass door, careful to avoid the jagged edges from the remaining glass stuck in the frame.

"You shouldn't have shot the gun. You have a bow!" Liz scolded.

"Sorry, I wasn't thinking, was quicker to just use it." Jake apologized.

"It doesn't matter if it was quicker. We have to focus on what's safer!" Liz yelled.

"Look guys," I said. "We can't start fighting. We need a way to get out of here before more walkers come. We've already have a clue that there are more walkers behind that fence, we should just raid this place, then go back to Annabel's house. Hopefully the walkers that heard us will loose interest and go back doing... whatever walkers do. So mostly wander around and bang their heads on stuff."

"We better hurry then." Stephanie said. The fence was starting to creek and groan under the weight of however many walkers were on the other side.

We ran through the broken glass door, careful to avoid the shards that remained hanging in the frame. We went to the kitchen first. We opened up the pantry and cupboards. There was a lot of food, but to our disappointment, mice had gotten to most of it. The mice had even gnawed through plastic bags. We didn't take any food, even it it looked untouched. The mice might have walked on it or done anything to it. We didn't want to risk getting sick or some kind of disease.

Stephanie walked away in disgust, "Come on, we might have better luck upstairs."

We all agreed with her and walked upstairs into the bedrooms. There wasn't anything of much use in them either.

Liz sighed disappointedly. "We should go to another house. Let's go out the front."

We all made our way downstairs. We looked in the backyard, the fence was still holding, but there were a lot more hands poking over the edge. We hurried to the front door. I looked through the peep-hole. Nothing was out front. I turned the knob and looked through the crack of the door, still nothing. I walked out to the porch and looked around, once I saw that it really was empty, I motioned for the others to follow. Just as we all walked out, we heard a loud crack of splintering wood. The fence was down. I quickly shut the door.

"What house next?" She asked.

We walked to the edge of the street and looked around. Some of the houses doors were spattered with blood or stained with bloody handprints.

"None of them look very safe..." Liz murmured.

"Well, we're not going to find a safe house with the walkers all around." Stephanie said.

"Wait, did you hear that?" Liz questioned suddenly.

I hadn't heard anything "Wha-"

"Shhhhhh, listen." Liz chided.

I strained to listen for any strange sounds. Then I heard it. It was a faint bark.

"Do you hear it? It's a dog!" Liz realized. "Come on we have to find it!"

She started to run toward the bark, but Stephanie caught her arm. "We can't, sorry to be blunt but, that's just one more mouth we have to feed. We don't even know if we will be able to find dog food."

"We can give it scraps then, my friends had dogs that they gave some of their scraps to. You just can't give them chocolate or chicken bones." She frowned, wrenching her arm out of Stephanie's grasp and jogging forward.

"Unbelievable." Stephanie sighed. She looked to Jake and I, we shrugged our shoulders.

"It would be cool to have a dog... I've never had one before." I said. "Besides it may be beneficial. Boost some moral when times are low."

She thought about it for a minute, sighed again, and walked to Liz. "Alright, let's see if we can find it. It has to be a big dog. We're not taking a scrawny Chihuahua with us."

Liz grinned and nodded. "Come on then, I'm pretty sure it's this way.

We all followed her, killing the occasional walker that was on the way. It didn't take too long to find the house that the barking was coming from.

The house was tan and had a neat, white fence. There wasn't any blood stains or messages on the walls. The barking was coming from the backyard.

I approached the front door. "Might as well raid this place while we're here."

I wiggled the door knob, locked. "It's locked." I said frustratedly to the others.

"There's a window just right there. We could break it and get it." Liz suggested.

I looked around and saw a moderately sized rock. I picked it up, positioned myself in front of the window, and chucked the rock. It smacked into the window, shattering the glass with a resounding crash, the smaller pieces tinkled as they collided with the bigger pieces on the floor. I looked behind me, nothing was coming from behind, but that didn't mean that some walkers hadn't heard the noise. Jake cleared out bits of glass at the bottom of the frame with an arrow. After moving all the pieces as best as he could, I climbed through the window, then helped the others get in. The barking continued in the back yard. It was starting to get a little more frantic. Liz went ahead of me and found the way to the backyard. There was a dog house with several walkers surrounding it. The barking was getting more frequent and the walkers were trying harder to get in.

"Come on we have to help!" Liz shouted, shoving the sliding door out of her way and nocking an arrow into her bow. She shot and hit one of the walkers in the head.

"Nice shot." Jake complimented, joining her.

"I was aiming for the other one." She responded.

"Never mind then."

Jake drew an arrow and aimed for the head of a more ragged looking walker. He released the arrow. It flew straight into the walkers skull, a perfect bullseye if I ever saw one. I looked to my right to see Stephanie, wielding her spear, ran past Liz and stabbed one of the remaining walkers in the head. I followed her lead and did the same to the last.

The barking had calmed a little since we had arrived, but not by much. Liz and Jake retrieved their arrows and walked over to the entrance of the dog house. The front was covered in a metal wire mesh. It was keeping the dog in and the walkers out. The dog inside was a golden retriever. It wore a studded collar; its tag said Joe.

"Awww, look at the doggy!" Liz cooed. "How are we going to cut through the mesh. I'm not sure if kitchen knives is going to do it."

Stephanie moving in between us. "It's worth a try." She positioned the blade of her spear on the top of the mesh and started sawing. The mesh wasn't getting cut and the knife was getting dull.

"We need to find something better. We might even have to get an axe and just cut the whole damn roof off. There should be tools in the garage." Jake said.

I looked at Jake puzzled. "How do you know they'll be in the garage?"

"Isn't that where everyone keeps them?" He shrugged.

"Alright, I'll go see if I can find one." I said.

"I'll go with you." Stephanie offered. "Just in case there are walkers in there."

I nodded my thanks and we both headed inside the house. The garage had to be on the first floor of the house, it was just a matter of finding the right door. Stephanie and I split up and looked around, carefully opening up doors. So far I had opened three: a bathroom door, an office door, and a spare room door.

"Did you find it!?" I shouted over to Stephanie.

"Yeah, I think so." She yelled back.

I walked down the hall to where she was standing. Sure enough, it was the right door.

"Alright. Now we're in business." I said, slowly entering the garage.

A light turned on and I jumped back into the entryway, startled.

"Automatic light." I observed, sort of embarrassed. I stepped back into the garage-being able to see better made me a little more comfortable. The garage was neat, a silver Honda Odyssey was parked in the center, cupboards near the sides and a big tool box in the farthest left corner.

I pat the hood of the van. "We are totally taking this if we can."

Stephanie nodded, "Only if I get to drive!"

I smiled, then headed over to the tool box. I opened a drawer. It was empty! I opened another, again empty.

"Ah, shit." I murmured, after again, finding nothing. I opened up two other draws, only to find a screwdriver and a small wrench.

Stephanie closed a cupboard with a bang. "Hey Ed, I found an axe. It's kinda small though."

"It doesn't matter, it's an axe." I said. "It's more important than what I found. All the drawers were empty. I only found these."

We got out of the garage and headed back to the backyard.

"All right Joe. It's going to be a little loud for you." Liz said. Joe was up against the mesh licking her hand.

I swung the axe and buried it into the roof of the dog house. The wood splintered and cracked. Joe was startled at the noise and growled a little. Liz shushed him and wiggled her fingers through the mesh, distracting him. I hacked at the wooden roof in the front and on the right and left sides. I didn't hack at the back of the dog house as much as I did the front, but I was still able to open the roof like a lid to a chest. Joe jumped out of the house, quickly relieved himself on a near-by bush, and started running around. He licked our hands and jumped up on us, giving us a dog hug.

"Alright, we've got the dog and we found a van in the garage. We can load up whatever loot we find in the house and go." I said.

We all went inside and searched the bottom floor. The kitchen was the first to be raided. The fridge contained a small net of apples and half a jug of orange juice. The pantry and cupboard shelves had some canned foods like: pineapples, artichoke hearts, green beans, coconut water, and there where even two sealable bags of a powdered mashed-potatoes. We eventually did find some bags of dog food and dog was even an extra leash along with it.

I picked up the dog bowl and filled it with water from a bottle Jake had found in the pantry. Joe lapped it up quickly.

"Wow, very thirsty aren't you." I crooned. "Must have been an awful long time since you've been let out."

Joe continued lapping up the water, then he suddenly stopped. Water dribbled from his chin as he listened to something we couldn't hear. Joe then whined and bolted for the stairs. Jake and I ran after him.

Stephanie stepped out of the hallway, holding a bottle of medication, "Hey, what do you think of-"

"Sorry Stephanie, gotta run after Joe." I replied hurriedly.

Joe ran up the stairs and down the hall. He stopped at a door and began pawing at it, whimpering. He looked at Jake and I with sad eyes then continued pawing.

I readied my spear as I stepped toward the door. My mind constantly thinking, "Please don't be a walker. Please don't be a walker." I gently grabbed the door knob, turned it, then forced it inward. Nothing came out at us, but Joe rushed inside. Once I entered the room, I saw what had Joe all concerned. Collapsed on the floor in the room was a horribly emaciated Rottweiler.

I rushed to the dogs aid. "Aww man...this...this is just awful."

Jake ran to the dogs side as well. The dog growled at us and flashed its fangs for a second. Then fell silent when we stopped. We tried to walk closer to it, but it would growl again and show its teeth.

"How are we going to get close to him?" Jake asked me.

I thought for a moment. "You know Janet used to talk a lot about dogs. Sometimes when we went out to the park or something for projects, a dog would pass by. She would always ask the owner if she could pet it."

"So? That doesn't really say much. I mean I know my sister loves animals and she watched a lot of SPCA shows on Animal Planet and all, but she isn't a dog expert."

"I know, but even though the owner told her the dog was shy, but she could try, she would always do something and the dog wasn't nervous. Even the owners were surprised...what was it... Oh I've got it." I got down on her hands and knees, then slowly edged toward the dog. Once I got within reaching distance, I slowly put my hand near the dogs nose.

"Janet said that she let the dog smell her before, it's the equivalent of a human greeting." I whispered.

The Rottweiler didn't growl the whole time I did this. I saw its nostrils quiver, then a pink tongue come out and licked my hand. I smiled and slowly rubbed the dogs head. Jake followed my lead and soon enough he was petting the Rottweiler along with me. The dog's neck was so skinny the collar around it's neck could be easily taken off without unstrapping it. The tag on it read: Spike.

"We have to move him downstairs. Give him some food and water." I said.

I reached under the dog and tried to coax him to his feet. "Come on boy, can you stand?"

Spike slowly got into a sitting position, but it looked painful.

"He's to malnourished. I'm going carry him; he won't make it on his own." Jake gently picked up Spike and slowly made his way down stairs. Joe was following him all the way, not leaving his buddy's side.

Once we got down to the kitchen, Liz and Stephanie saw the emaciated body. Liz gasped and slowly approached the dog.

Jake placed Spike on the kitchen table. "Get the bowl we found and fill it with water."

Liz nodded and unzipped the backpack we had left on the counter. She grabbed a bowl and filled it with another bottle. She carefully brought it over and set it in front of Spike. Spike strained toward the bowl, but all his strength had left him when he sat. I pushed the bowl closer and gripped him by the scruff of the neck, which didn't hurt him, and held the bowl under his mouth. Since I was supporting his neck, Spike lapped at the water with gusto.

"Good boy, very good boy." Liz said, rubbing Spike behind his ear.

"Did you guys find anything else around here?" I asked Stephanie.

She nodded. "Yeah, a couple more sets of clothes, a huge can of chocolate pudding, and another large can of peaches, and the medication I found, it was aspirin, oh, and a box of twinkies."

"Twinkies? Those will rot on the road." Liz said.

Stephanie laughed. "Those things are so pumped with chemicals and artificial stuff that it doesn't have enough organic material able to rot!"

"Really? Let me see the box." Liz said. Stephanie gave her the box and Liz inspected it. "Yep, half of these ingredients I can't even say."

We all laughed, but stopped immediately when Joe began to growl. There where foot steps outside, glass breaking and crunching beneath the feet. Then their was a voice.

"Damn, someone's broken in. Can't leave for fifteen fuckin' minutes before someone goes and raids your fuckin' house."

It was a man, by the sound of it and he didn't seem to happy. Joe gave a soft growl. A key was inserted into the door's lock.

"Shit." I heard Stephanie whisper.

The door, now unlocked, was pushed in. Standing in the doorway, was a tall, angry, clean shaven man, with a rifle pointed right at us.

**Jauntues- Well, here is chapter 3. Hope you all liked it. Don't forget to review! **


	4. Chapter 4- New Family Members

**Disclaimer- We do not own the Walking Dead...even thought we would like to.**

**Edelynn's POV**

"Now, will you kids tell me what you're doin' in my house?" The man asked.

"What are we NOT doing in your house? It's the fucking zombie apocalypse for God's sake! And long story short, we stole your house." Stephanie said. "Besides, your dog was outside, barking 'cause you were leaving it for walker bait!"

I mentally face-palmed, 'What a way to piss off the guy with a gun.'

'Mm, Joe lead you here eh. Well, once you're gone... I might have to teach that good for nothing mutt a lesson."

"What; a lesson like Spike?" Liz yelled furiously.

The man stiffened. "That mutt bit me, and no dog of mine will bite the hand that feeds him." The man walked over slowly, the muzzle of the gun still trained on us. "Come here, Joe." He whistled. Joe didn't budge. "I said 'come here' you damned mutt!" He screamed. Joe growled, but slowly crouched and crawled over to the man.

The man slapped Joe on the muzzle, who let out a loud yelp and snarl. Liz let out a protesting yell, but was held back by Jake.

"It's what the useless fucker gets for hesitating a command from his better." The man growled.

"A better really? Well, if I was to choose the better one, I'd choose the dog." Jake yelled, not able to bite back the retort.

The man pointed his gun at Jake. "You know, I think I'm going to make you leave sooner than I thought." He tightened his finger on the trigger, then two things happened at once. Stephanie knocked Jake down before the man shot, but Spike was suddenly airborne. He tackled the man and the rifle clattered out of his hand. Spike fell to the floor and didn't get up.

I grabbed the rifle and pointed it at the man. "Liz check on Spike!"

Liz ran over to Spike's side and Joe sat next to her. She stroked Spike's fur, "He's alright. He's still alive."

"Okay. Good. Jake get something to tie this guy up."

Jake nodded, but Stephanie stopped him. "Nah, I've got a better idea." She ran upstairs and was up there for a good minute. Then she came back downstairs with two pairs of handcuffs.

"Where did you find those?" I asked.

"His bedroom drawer...along with some...other things."

I laughed as Stephanie handcuffed the man's wrists and ankles together. The man started spewing curses and other vulgar sayings.

"He got a gag?" I asked Stephanie. She shrugged and ran back upstairs. She came back down, smiling mischievously "Will this work?" She held up a ball gag.

I snorted, "Yeah, it'll work."

I put the rifle on the table and helped Stephanie silence the guy. I grabbed his hair and pulled. He yelled, but Stephanie shoved the gag into his mouth.

"Hmmf hmmergff, hermergff hir hr." The man screamed.

Stephanie kicked him in the side. "Shut up. I'll bet the dog had it worse."

The man fell silent, but growled through the gag. I walked over to where Liz was sitting with Joe and Spike. Spike was heaving for breath.

"Steph, go get the car started. We're leaving." I said. "Jake can you pick up Spike?"

Jake nodded, he walked over to Spike and tenderly pat him on the head. "Thanks a lot buddy." Jake picked him up and gingerly took him over the where the van was waiting. I went back for the rest of the supplies, when there was more glass crunching outside.

"You don't have company, do you?" I spat at the man. He shook his head fearfully. A gasping moan and a growl confirmed that it wasn't any friend of his.

"Hhrraahk mmrmrffff, mrrrrffffffmmm" He pleaded through the gag. I looked at the window, dozens of hands were clawing at the window frame, not caring of slivers of their hands were sliced off by shards of glass.

I looked back to the man, handcuffed and gagged, and sighed. I grabbed his rifle, then got the small axe and threw it at his feet.

"That should do it." I said. I sprinted back to the garage and hopped into the backseat, the car was already running.

"Keys were in the sunglasses holder." Stephanie said. "Let's roll!" She opened the garage door and sped out of the drive way. Just in time too. There were at least twenty walkers at the entrance of the house, probably attracted by the gun shot.

I looked to the seat next to me, Liz had Joe sitting next to her and Spike laying across her lap.

I tapped Stephanie on the shoulder, "Let's get back to Annabel's house. Would be just around the block, we only jumped a fence and crossed a street."

She nodded and no sooner than five minuets we were at Annabel's house. Stephanie parked the van in the driveway, next to another car.

"Looks like the others are already back." Liz said.

Jake got out of his seat. Liz got out of the car and Jake hoisted Spike into his arms. "Good, now Janet can help us actually know what to do...for the most part."

Stephanie rapped on the door with her knuckles.

"Who is it?" A voice yelled from the other side. It sounded like April's.

"It the fucking pizza delivery guy!" Stephanie yelled.

April opened the door. "You're more than half an hour late, you better not charge me.

We all smiled and laughed. "We got some new members for the family, but get Janet though." I said, cocking my head in Spike's direction.

April nodded and disappeared inside. We all followed her and closed the door behind us. Jake lay Spike on the soft couch in the living room. Janet came rushing into the room.

"Damn," she knelt in front of Spike and let him sniff her hand. "This is not what I was expecting."

"Well, how is he? Will he live?" Jake asked.

Janet shrugged, "I need to do some tests first, but Jake, he's almost literally a skeleton. It doesn't look good."

Liz teared up. "Can you just check him out anyway? I know you paid close attention to Animal Planet and I think you can do something."

Janet nodded. "Yeah, I can try. Jake lift him up. Annabel I'm going to need a paper, pen, a thermometer, and a scale." Annabel rushed to get them.

"Rita, can you help Jake. I need Spike to be steady and that dog isn't going to be able to stand on it's own. "

Annabel came running back with the supplies. Janet uncapped the pen and wrote "Spike" on the top of the paper. Under that she wrote normal weight, approximate weight, temp., worms, ex. notes.

"Alright, based on what I know...a Rottweiler is supposed to weigh one hundred and ten to one hundred and thirty-two pounds. Spike's approximate weight is (she gently put him on the scale and clicked her tongue sadly) fifty pounds."

There were gasps and disappointed tongue clicks around the room.

"Spike's temperature is... Do you have a mercury thermometer Annabel?"

"No sorry, ear thermometer is all I've got. It's pretty lucky my mom bought this, eh."

"Yeah, but I could get a more accurate reading from a mercury thermometer."

"Why?

"Well I could sterilize it then stick it in his, um, rectum. It's the way it's done with dogs, ear works too though, it may be a little less accurate. I'll have to take multiple readings and average it out." Janet stuck the thermometer in Spike's ear. "One hundred two. So, normal." She took the temperature two more times, both read one hundred and one.

"Alright, seems normal." Janet said, marking down the data.

"How do you know all of this?" I asked.

"Animal Planet and the Internet, my friend. Animal Planet and the Internet."

She pulled the scruff of his neck and released it. She watched it go down slowly. "Dehydrated. If he were hydrated it would pretty much snap into place. But him being dehydrated was pretty obvious in the first place. Alrighty, let's see if their is anything internal." Janet used both of her hands to firmly, but gently, apply pressure to what was left of Spike's abdomen. Spike didn't react.

"Alright, nothing wrong there, I think." She lifted up his paws and checked them over, then under his tail, the she pulled up Spike's lips and examined his teeth, gums, and tongue."

"Well?" Liz asked.

"He seems okay. No signs of tapeworms or round worms, or any internal problems, as far as I can tell... He's just extremely malnourished and dehydrated." Janet concluded.

She went though the same process with Joe. Joe was starved and dehydrated as well, but not on the same level as Spike.

"They'll both pull through, we just have to pay more attention to Spike, just in the sense of watching over him and making notes if he shows improvements or gets worse. In the event of the latter...we are going to have to put him down."

"Well, "the latter" won't happen, we'll take good care of him." Liz rubbed Spike's head enthusiastically. "And we have you Janet. You're technically the vet around here now." Spike wagged his tail. I swear that in that moment I saw the dogs pull there lips back in a smile, just for a second.

"I don't I even remotely qualify to vet status. I'm just going off of what I know, which isn't a lot." Janet turned to me "Well, other than these two new members what else, did you get?"

"A lot of stuff. We got more food, a car, a rifle, ammo, and dog food."

Janet shook her head and smiled. "Dude, that is nothing compared to what we got...well except maybe the car."

I raised an eyebrow, "What did you get?"

Janet turned around, grabbed a back pack, and gently put the contents on the floor. My eyes bugged out of my head. "No way! Swords and daggers!"

I clapped Janet on the back, but saw her wince. "You alright?"

She nodded,"Yeah, a walker grabbed my ankle and pulled me under the car. I hit my head and now my back is kind of sore. I didn't get bit though, I grabbed one of the katanas and stabbed it in the head. She grabbed a sword off the floor, it was in a black sheath, a silver pouncing tiger was the only design.

Everyone saw the new swords and we started taking the sword we liked. What I chose was just a white katana with a yin yang as the hilt design.

"Now we are the ninjas of the apocalypse." Stephanie whispered mysteriously.

The sky started to get dark. I looked outside, large grey clouds were rolling across the sky. "It's going to rain, heavily by the look of the clouds."

"It's alright, we need to stay here a little while anyway. Just until Spike is doing a little better." Janet said.

Janet took out the two dog bowls and filled it with half wet and half dry food. She put it on the floor a few feet away from the couch. Joe hopped off the sofa, but didn't touch his food. He walked back to Spike and nosed him. Janet gently lifted Spike off the couch and lowered him near his food. Once Spike began eating, Joe ate ravenously. Spike ate slower, but chewed with gusto. Once they finished they licked their bowls clean. Janet filled the bowls with water and they drank.

"They are going to need to eat more than that!" Liz exclaimed. "They've been starved. You're only going to feed them one bowl?"

"Yes. Give them more and they will eat and eat. You need to get their stomach used to eating food again." Janet explained.

Liz nodded and didn't protest further. Joe shook himself and walked over to them. Spike lifted his head and looked at me and Janet. Janet smiled and pulled him closer to us, giving him a quick back rub. "Who's a good boy?"

Spike wagged his tail, sighed, and put his head down on my leg. I rubbed his head. After about a two hours of nothing but reading and free time. We made dinner, which was: slices of canned peaches, some mashed potatoes, and some orange juice.

"You know, I'm going to miss the days of ice cream and milk." Annabel said.

Rita nodded "Agreed."

"You know what I'm going to miss?" Janet sighed. "I'm going to miss meat."

We all agreed and toasted orange juice to that.

"I'm going to miss chocolate." I said.

Everyone laughed, they all knew that I was a chocolate eating monster.

"Well, you know what? Why don't we break out the can of chocolate pudding you guys found. You know, just to see if it tastes like how we remember it."

There were cheers, but were quickly shushed once we remembered what was probably lurking outside. Annabel grabbed the pudding, some bowls and spoons, and a can opener. She quickly cut the top off and dished out portions of pudding. Once we all had a bowl, we dug in.

"Howry crap." I garbled through a mouthful of pudding. "Dis, dis is really good pooding."

"Swaw before you tawk Ed." Rita garbled back, "Youw're tawkn' funny."

Janet giggled. "I never thought I would miss the taste of junk food, 'cause it was always around... You know the three things that would make this better?"

I swallowed. "What?"

"A steak, a liter of Pepsi, and some chips."

We all nodded.

Janet smiled. "But this is better than nothing."

I started licking my bowl clean.

"Ed, you've got pudding on the rip of your nose." Annabel laughed.

I flicked my thumb over my nose; yep there was chocolate. I popped it into my mouth, "Thanks."

"No problem."

"How are we going to wash these?" Liz asked.

Annabel laughed. "Just give them to Edelynn, she'll lick them clean."

I blushed a little bit and laughed. "Nah, I won't do that. But we could use the rain from outside. Do you have a bucket or something to hold a lot of water?"

"Yeah, just a couple a beach buckets. Where should we hang them?"

"We'll see."

Annabel and I walked to her garage and found the two beach buckets she had spoken of. We left them outside on a patio table.

"There, once the rain comes down, we can boil it in the pot and save it." I said, looking at the strategically placed buckets.

"Sounds good. You know, it's not that late, we could play a board game or something." Annabel answered.

"That sounds like a good idea. What games do you have?"

"Umm, I think I've got: Scrabble, Monopoly, LIFE, Connect Four, checkers, and playing cards."

I thought for a moment. "I think Scrabble, LIFE, and Monopoly would be fun."

Annabel smiled and we went back into the house. She went upstairs and promptly came back down with the requested games.

Annabel spread the games on the floor "All right, what do you guys want to play?"

We all chose Monopoly. There weren't enough pieces to go around, so we just stole some of the pieces from LIFE and whatever small objects we could find around the house. Ten minutes into the game there was a low rumble, a crack, and a quick flash of light.

"Looks like we might be here a while." I said.

"It's like the world is crying over all the dead." Janet thought out loud.

We all paused. "So deep man, so deep." Rita said.

We all nodded, but got on with the game. Spike and Joe even watched us. Spike lay between Janet and I while Joe sat between Jake and Liz. We occasionally had to pause the game so that Annabel and I could quickly go out and get the buckets of water.

The water was boiled in Annabel's fireplace, then we stored it in canteens we found around in the house.

The monopoly game lasted several hours, since we were playing by the actual rules. Stephanie ended up winning with Jake in second and Liz in third. The rest of us didn't even come close. We had not bought properly like mad, and we had honestly thought the other were crazy to buy property to the point where they were almost bankrupt. Their strategy worked out in the end though, we always landed in one of their property slots and had to cough up however much cash was required.

By this time, it was eight o'clock. Outside the wind was howling and the house was creaking. We all hesitantly decided to hit the sack. We unpacked the sleeping bags and lay them in a circle. Liz had put a water bowl, for the dogs, in the center of the circle just in case they needed a drink. Our new swords lay sheathed next to us. Just before slipping into the sleeping bags, we all did a house check, making sure all the doors and windows were shut and locked up tight. Afterward, Janet and I laid close to Spike to make sure he would sleep and get along okay. Joe slept near Rita and Liz.

"G'night guys." Janet yawned.

"Night."

"Night."

"Night.

"Night.

"Stop saying night. I know what time it is!"

We all giggled.

Janet rubbed Spike's head. "Good night to you too bud." Spike licked her hand and nosed me. I rubbed his back and gave him a quick pat. "You too, boy." I closed my eyes, shut out the noise of the storm, and slept.

Rita's POV

I was woken by a whimper. I listened, nothing. "Must have imagined it." I mumbled, but soon heard it again.

I opened my eyes and looked around, then I felt something move next to me. I sat up and looked down, it was Joe. He was growling and whimpering in his sleep. I didn't know what to do. He started shaking uncontrollably. I held my breath, held my hand out, and timidly rubbed his back. The shaking stopped as well as the growling.

"Shhhhh, boy. It's okay. Nothing's here." I comforted the sleeping dog.

Joe woke up with a half whimper- half growl.

"Hey, boy. Easy, easy. You're okay, you're okay." I continued to comfort.

Joe shivered once and huddled close to me. I rubbed his head. "You going to be okay?" Joe licked my cheek. I laughed and wiped off the saliva. "I'll take that as a 'yes'." I lay back down and closed my eyes. Joe moved and squirmed. Then I felt his nose pushing against the crook of my elbow. He slipped under my elbow and lay under my arm. "Man's best friend." I said to myself. I put my arm over him properly and scratched his back. "Good boy." I whispered, then I fell back asleep.

...

**Jauntues: The feels in this chapter!**

**Rigoudon: I know. I love Spike!**

**Stephanie: Dogs are the best. Sorry cat lovers.**

**Annabel: We know that some cats are just as loving as dogs, but stereotypically they are not as social with humans as dogs.**

**Chrily- Fourth chapter done. You're on a roll Jauntues.**

**Jauntues: Thanks, but that credit should go to Rigoudon. She is the one grammar checking and editing parts.**

**Rigoudon-(does a little bow)**

**Boba: Don't forget to comment, comments go to the review section and that goes to feeding the writers.**

**Jauntues: Please find it in your heart not to let the writers starve! Hahaha. Thanks for reading.**

**All- Until the fifth chapter, stay safe and don't get eaten.**


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